Orlando Magic: The importance of January’s schedule

The games are starting to mean more, which is why January is a crucial month for the Orlando Magic.

The Orlando Magic have begun 2019 in familiar territory, on the outside looking in at a playoff race that is heating up in the Eastern Conference. The key difference this year, however, is that they are only one game back in the loss column of the 8-seed.

This is a positive step for the franchise, as in previous years their campaign was all but over by the time the new year rolled around. Now that they have gotten to this point where they are still in the hunt to make the postseason, the games take on an added importance.

This is what makes January so crucial, beginning with the Magic as a whole, but also because their next seven games are a truly brutal stretch.

After the relatively soft end to December, which they still didn’t totally cash in on, the Magic are staring down a four-game road trip out West. To add to that, they have already been away from home for their last two contests against Eastern opponents.

This featured a disheartening 125-100 loss to the Charlotte Hornets to end 2018, before picking up the pieces with a strong showing in a 112-84 win over the Chicago Bulls. What comes next, however, makes for tough reading.

The remaining schedule away from home features games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, followed by a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings, before ending the trip against the Utah Jazz. In order to play well on this trip, they will need some of their younger players to step up throughout, as they’ve done already this season.

The comforts of being home won’t count for much, as their next two games after that are against the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets. Oh, and those games are a back-to-back as well. Once all of that is complete, the month won’t even be halfway over.

After that is done, come arguably the two biggest games of the month, assuming the Magic are still in the playoff picture and haven’t dropped all six contests. First up is the Detroit Pistons (away), followed by the Brooklyn Nets (home).

It is easy to see why these are must-win games. As things stand ,the Pistons have the final playoff spot and the Nets sit in between Orlando and Detroit in ninth place. A lot can and will change over the next couple of weeks, and it would take a brave fan to predict Orlando would go even 3-3 before getting to this crucial double-header.

But if they can remain competitive and pull out the kind of unexpected wins they have all season, then winning these games would be massive. There is more to play for than just playoff position as the month rumbles on, however.

All-Star voting is now open, with fans and members of the media alike oftentimes having short-term memories when it comes to the in-season achievements of players. Based on the season as a whole to this point, center Nikola Vucevic should be the Magic’s first All-Star since Dwight Howard.

Should the team go on a big losing skid (again, look at that upcoming schedule) to fall far out of playoff contention, Vucevic’s amazing efforts to this point will be largely forgotten about.

He doesn’t play for a big-market team and the Magic are never on national television, so it would certainly be a case of out of sight, out of mind. Vucevic has also averaged a double-double in four of his previous six years with the team, so numbers such as the ones he is putting up this year have happened before.

The key difference is the team was winning games now and remaining competitive, but if they were to drop off suddenly, and again at a time when voting for the game is ramping up, that would hurt Vucevic’s chances.

Some may argue that ultimately this doesn’t matter, that it is about winning games above all else, and in one sense that is correct. But part of building a winning culture is having All-Star level players on your roster, as well as making the postseason.

This is why it would be so great to see the Magic go all the way and make it to the postseason this year, even if a potential sweep at the hands of somebody like the Toronto Raptors (who they held their own against recently) would be waiting for them.

One other reason January is important is because the tough stretch of games will surely provide head coach Steve Clifford with the opportunity, or more likely necessity, to shake things up.

For example, Mohamed Bamba saw 20 minutes of court time in that recent win over the Bulls. Playing him in more diverse ways and with different lineups could have some value to the team, especially as opponents key in on Vucevic as the Magic’s main threat. Jonathon Simmons has spent time as a backup point guard recently, with Jerian Grant having fallen out of favor.

These are two notable developments that could take place for the Magic over the coming weeks. If they can come through this stretch with their playoff hopes and Vucevic’s All-Star credentials still intact, then this is a team that is in the best place it has been in for years.

Should that particular part of January go badly, there will still be games against the Milwaukee Bucks, Rockets (again), Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers to get through, not to mention another meeting with the Nets and a Washington Wizards outfit looking to take its place in the standings. Needless to say, this is a huge month for the Orlando Magic.